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Programme

Nursery

Early childhood development and learning have been the focus of extensive research and initiatives over the past few years and Early education is seen as equal to all other levels of education. The new scientific findings put a new perspective and an increased importance on teaching and learning in the early years. Early Education is a general term used to define the first years of teaching and learning. The term “Early Education” is used in documents of the European Union institutions and will be used in this document. Early education is a fundamental part of life-long learning.

Our Primary Curriculum

Art, craft and design stimulates creativity and imagination. We provide a rich environment in which we encourage our children to communicate through the use of colour, texture, form, pattern and materials. We use the local environment to stimulate ideas and start some aspects of our art work. Investigating lines, shapes, colours and textures help our children with the basics and enable other work such as 3D and printing to happen. We inspire our children and will hopefully create some of Europe’s artists of tomorrow!

At the European Schools, Science, Geography and History are taught in an integrated way through Discovery of the World, or DDM (Découverte du Monde)

We aim to develop pupils’ enjoyment and interest in science and an appreciation of its contribution to all aspects of everyday life. We wish to build on pupils’ curiosity and sense of awe of the natural world through a variety of activities. At the same time, the children will be able to develop their ability to plan fair tests, make predictions, record results using ICT, diagrams, graphs, tables and charts and to make generalisations about their learning.

Our geographical studies aim to cover the local environment and issues of immediate relevance to the area. The children then extend their knowledge of the physical and human features of the wider world. They use a wide variety of sources, including maps, the internet and photos to establish the location of countries, cities, mountain ranges, rivers and seas or oceans. Children are also introduced to the economic and environmental factors which affect development and sustainability.

History allows our children to compare and contrast, to examine how and why things have changed, to learn about historical characters and expand their research skills. Children investigate and record their findings using a variety of media: through literacy, drama, art and ICT. We want our children to be open minded and enquiring thinkers understanding cause and effect. We want them to understand how people have lived in the past and begin to make links between the past and modern times.

We encourage first-hand experience wherever possible in DDM; field work visits, interactive workshops and visiting experts play an important role in all year groups. Through their combined studies in DDM the children really do discover their world in a much wider context.

European Hours offers us a unique and exciting opportunity to offer the children a genuinely European experience. The classes have a wide curricular range, within which an open and extensive spectrum of activities with a multidisciplinary character is offered. They range from choir and orchestra, to School Newspaper and European fashion design. The classes are carefully mixed so that there is a balance of gender and languages spoken. In this way, the children are encouraged to communicate and co-operate in a meaningful European context. Constantly evolving, changing and adapting to the needs of our school and the children in it, European Hours activities have the potential to become the highlight of the week for many!

The topics covered are considered in the context of a European dimension, and there are times when we look at the context of the wider world through the eyes of Europe. There is always a special focus on intercultural learning community, communication beyond language borders, social and cooperative learning community, an international meeting forum with co-operation and mutual respect and understanding for each other.

The objectives of the European hours are:

Tolerance

Co-operation

Communication

Open-mindedness towards others and respect in relation to different cultures,

Our children need to learn how to manage it all – to get hold of information, evaluate its suitability, store it, share it with others and tailor it to meet their own needs. In ICT the children learn how to safely navigate the internet, develop digital photography skills, use sound and video recording equipment and access a wide variety of software. Interactive whiteboards throughout the school, along with digital cameras and voice recorders, to name but a few available resources, ensure that ICT can be used as a learning tool throughout the curriculum.

We aspire for our children to confidently and independently use and apply information technology skills to support and extend their learning. We hope to develop a culture where the use of ICT becomes second nature to our pupils, thus ensuring they are ready and able to embrace the inevitable technological advances in their futures.

We use English to communicate in both written and spoken form. Language is also used to build our understanding and opinion of the world and our community. We continue to learn, develop and enhance our knowledge and understanding of English throughout our lives.

English is taught daily, using the L1 syllabus of the European Schools, with work appropriately differentiated to match all abilities.

Communicating effectively, either in written or spoken form is crucial to life in the European Schools, and it is no different here at Laeken IV. The new L2 Curriculum presents the linguistic items students are expected to learn, and describes the competences they will develop in order become competent language learners. The Curriculum focuses on the competences to be attained by the end of primary.

It also encourages teachers to take into account the individual pupil’s starting point on the language continuum and to then differentiate accordingly.

The first three levels are relevant at primary level:

A 1 Breakthrough

A 2 Waystage

B 1 Threshold

Students with no second language when entering P1 should reach level A2 by the end of primary education. Students with an advanced level of language competence could reach level B1, at least in some of the competence areas.

Learning is divided into the four main language activities of ‘listening and understanding’, ‘spoken interaction’ and ‘spoken production’, ‘reading for understanding’ and ‘writing.’ Our aim is to develop the linguistic competences of all the children. In addition we encourage the children to develop dynamic competences including; communicative, intercultural, social and strategic competences in both cultural and literary domains.

The Learning Continuum lies at the heart of the planning and assessment process in Language 2.This continuum defines language 2 oracy and literacy in terms of pupils’ skills in the 4 main language activities. Children are very much considered as active participants in their learning and each will self- evaluate every aspect of their progress and development so that they are aware of what it is they need to next to improve their skills further. Teachers use a variety of wide resources to aid success for all children at EEBIV.

We aim to provide our children with a wide mathematical education taught in an enjoyable, relevant and creative way. We use ‘real life’ experiences so children begin to understand the importance of applying maths skills in order to solve problems and engage them for future learning.

Maths is taught daily based on the harmonised Intermaths programme, methodologies and resources from the different language sections. Children move through each level and build on existing skills, developing their knowledge and understanding. Pupils explore all four number operations and are encouraged to try different strategies that best suit their learning.

Pupils explore shape and space and develop their measuring skills in a range of contexts.

They are given lots of opportunity to discuss their methods and encouraged to use the appropriate mathematical vocabulary. We want our children to know and understand mathematical concepts, skills, facts, relationships and strategies and be able to apply and communicate these in a confident way.

Music is are given the opportunity to play musical instruments in class.

Singing a rich and varied subject. It is creative and exciting.

Children, however, is at the heart of our music making, both in class lessons and during Singing School, and through our yearly performances. Children have the opportunity to join our school choir and our school orchestra as part of European Hours. These groups sometimes perform for special school events.

We have a variety of musical experiences for the children and these have in the past included visiting orchestra, drumming workshops and opera workshops.

Irish language It is a particular feature of Irish primary education that children, from the beginning of schooling, have an experience of language learning in two languages. An engagement with the Irish language throughout the period of primary education extends the child’s linguistic experience and deepens cultural awareness. The curriculum recognises that an experience and a knowledge of Irish are important in enabling the child to begin to define and express his or her sense of national and cultural identity. At the heart of the Gaeilge curriculum is a communicative, task-based approach to language learning, in which the child learns to use the language as an effective means of communication. Topics are based on the children’s own interests, concerns, and needs, and children are encouraged to speak the language in real contexts and situations. The emphasis is on enjoyment and on using the language in activities such as games, tasks, conversations, role-playing, sketches, and drama. The language the children use in these activities is relevant and reusable from lesson to lesson. Teachers are encouraged to use a variety of approaches and strategies to promote active and independent language learning. Children’s contact time with the language is maximised through co-operation and sharing in pair and group work, and the child’s appreciation and enjoyment is enhanced through songs, poems, rhymes, stories, riddles, and tongue-twisters. In each lesson there is an element of language learning, through which the children acquire the vocabulary and language functions that they will need to perform a task or to play a language game. This language input is used immediately, in the same lesson, to perform the task or to play the game. In this way the child is encouraged to use Gaeilge for relevant communicative purposes. Irish is taught as an extra subject from the nursery class up to secondary year 1, with a time allocation of three periods a week. The aim of the Irish curriculum is to enable Irish children to continue to develop links with their culture and heritage and to extend their language skills to enable them to continue the study of Irish into Secondary School or in another European School. The curriculum also aims to enable children to reintegrate into the Irish Education System where the study of Irish is compulsory.

Our ‘School Council’ is made up of 25 children from P3-P5 representing all the different language sections. These children are elected to be representatives for their class and attend regular meetings to discuss relevant matters of interest concerning school organisation and development. The School Council is actively involved in decision making within the school and regularly gather views and opinions from their peers.

The aim of the School Council is to develop an awareness of citizenship and involve all our children, to some extent, in the running of the school.